5 The Old, Old Tree

This is About The Old, Old Tree I knew enough about the Catskill Mountains to know that when the summer came, they were covered with people. Although Greatgrandfathers farm was somewhat remote, still hikers and campers and hunters and fishermen were sure to wander across it. Therefore I wanted a house that could not he seen. People would want to take me back where I belonged if they found me. I looked at that tree. Somehow I knew it was home, but I was not quite sure how it was home. The limbs were high and not right for a tree house. I could build a back extension around it, but that would look silly. Slowly I circled the great trunk. Halfway around the whole plan became perfectly obvious. To the west, between two of the flanges of the tree

这则故事要讲我认识的那棵很老很老的大树。我对卡茨基尔山再了解不过，我知道夏天一到，满山都是来游玩的人。 虽然曾曾祖父的农场位置有点偏僻，可远足的、露营的、打猎的、钓鱼的人还是总会逛到农场上来。 所以我想找一栋没人能找到的房子。 要是人们发现了我，肯定会把我送回我该去的地方。 我看着那棵树。 不知怎么的，我知道这就是我的家，可我又不太确定它怎么就能当我的家。 树枝都太高了，不适合建树屋。 我倒是可以绕着树干加个扩建的屋子，可那看起来太蠢了。 我慢慢围着巨大的树干走了一圈。 绕到一半的时候，一个完整的计划突然清晰地出现在我脑子里。 在树的西侧，树干两块突出树盘的之间

that spread out to the roots, was a cavity. The heart of the tree was rotting away. I scraped at it with my hands; old, rotten, insect-ridden dust came tumbling out. I dug on and on, using my axe from time to time as my excitement grew.

一直延伸到树根，那里有一个树洞。 树心已经慢慢烂空了。 我用手去挖，烂乎乎、爬着虫子的旧木屑哗啦啦掉了出来。 我不停挖呀挖，越来越兴奋，时不时还拿出斧头劈几下。

With much of the old rot out, I could crawl in the tree and sit cross-legged. Inside I felt as cosy as a turtle in its shell. I chopped and

大部分烂木头都挖出来后，我就能爬进树洞里盘腿坐下了。 待在树洞里，我舒服极了，就像乌龟缩在自己的壳里一样。 我砍呀砍

chopped until I was hungry and exhausted. I was now in the hard good wood, and chopping it out was work. I was afraid December would come before I got a hole big enough to lie in. So I sat down to think. You know, those first days, I just never planned right. I had the beginnings of a home, but not a bite to eat, and I had worked so hard that I could hardly move forward to find that bite. Furthermore it was discouraging to feed that body of mine. It was never satisfied, and gathering food for it took time and got it hungrier. Trying to get a place to rest it took time and got it more tired, and I really felt I was going in circles and wondered how primitive man ever had enough time and energy to stop hunting food and start thinking about fire and tools. I left the tree and went across the meadow looking for food. I plunged into the woods beyond, and there I discovered the gorge and

一直砍到肚子发饿，累得浑身都动不了了。 现在我砍到结实的好木头了，把这块挖出来可真费劲儿。 我真怕等我挖出够大、能躺下的洞，十二月都到了。 于是我坐下来好好琢磨。 你知道的，刚开始那几天，我根本没做好计划。 我刚有了家的雏形，可一口吃的都没有，我累得几乎挪不动步，根本没法去找吃的。 而且，喂饱我的肚子真让人发愁。 它永远都吃不饱，花时间找吃的喂它，反倒让它更饿。 花时间找地方休息，又只会让它更累，我真觉得自己一直在绕圈子，我都好奇原始人是怎么挤出时间和力气，不用天天打猎，还能琢磨火和工具的。 我离开大树，穿过草地去找食物。 我冲进前面的树林，就在那儿我发现了峡谷，还有

the white cascade splashing down the black rocks into the pool below. I was hot and dirty. I scrambled down the rocks and slipped into the pool. It was so cold I yelled. But when I came out on the bank and put on my two pairs of trousers and three sweaters, which I thought was a better way to carry clothes than in a pack, I tingled and burned and felt coltish. I leapt up the bank, slipped, and my face went down in a patch of dogtooth violets. You would know them anywhere after a few looks at them at the Botanical Gardens and in coloured flower books. They are little yellow lilies on long slender stems with oval leaves dappled with grey. But that's not all. They have wonderfully tasty bulbs I was filling my pockets before I got up from my fall. "I'll have a salad type lunch," I said as I moved up the steep sides of the ravine. I discovered that as late as it was in the

白色瀑布顺着黑色岩石冲下来，落进下方的水潭里。 我又热又脏。 我爬下岩石，滑进了水潭。 水太冷了，冻得我叫出了声。 可等我爬上岸，穿上我的两条裤子和三件毛衣——我觉得把衣服穿在身上比打包背着方便多了——我浑身发麻又发热，整个人轻快得像小马驹。 我蹦着往岸上跑，脚一滑，脸朝下摔进了一片狗牙紫罗兰丛里。 只要你在植物园和彩色花卉书里见过几回，你一眼就能认出它们。 它们是小小的黄色百合花，长在细长的茎上，椭圆形的叶子带着灰色的斑点。 可好处不止这些。 它们的球茎特别好吃，我还没爬起来就先往口袋塞了好多。 “我要吃一顿清爽的沙拉午餐啦”，我一边说一边往峡谷的陡坡上走。 我发现，虽然已经到了

season, the spring beauties were still blooming in the cool pockets of the woods. They are all right raw, that is if you are as hungry as I was. They taste a little like lima beans. I ate these as I went on hunting food, feeling better and better, until I worked my way back to the meadow where the dandelions were blooming. Funny I hadn't noticed them earlier. Their greens are good, and so are their roots– a little strong and milky, but you get used to that. A crow flew into the aspen grove without saying a word. The little I knew of crows from following them in Central Park, they always have something to say. But this bird was sneaking, obviously trying to he quiet. Birds are good food. Crow is certainly not the best, but I did not know that then, and I launched out to see where it was going. I had a vague plan to try to noose it. This is the kind of thing I wasted time on in those days when time was so important. However, this venture

这个时节，春美草还在树林阴凉的凹处开着花呢。 它们生吃也没问题，反正那时候我饿得不行，怎么吃都香。 吃起来味道有点像利马豆。 我一边找吃的一边吃这些野菜，感觉越来越好，最后我走回了长着蒲公英的草地。 真奇怪，我之前怎么没注意到它们。 蒲公英的叶子很好吃，根也不错——味道有点浓，带点奶味，不过吃习惯就好了。 一只乌鸦飞到杨树林里，一声都没出。 我之前在中央公园跟着乌鸦玩就知道，乌鸦平时总是叽叽喳喳叫个不停。 可这只乌鸦偷偷摸摸的，明显是故意不出声。 鸟儿可是很好的食物。 乌鸦当然不是最好吃的，但那时候我不懂，于是我追过去看看它要去哪儿。 我还模糊盘算着，能不能用套索抓住它。 那时候我的时间这么宝贵，可我总在这种事上浪费时间。 不过，这次的冒险